Lamp connection



H. H, HARRIS LAMP CONNECTION July 31, 1934.

Filed May 23, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 31, 1934. H, HARR|$ 1,968,077

LAMP CONNECTION Filed May 23, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 dbbozmq 8,

Patented July 31, 1934 UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE,

12 Claims.

This invention relates to electrical connections and contacts for standlamps of the fioor or table type and has for its object to providecontacts of this type which are normally hidden from view I and whichpreclude the use of loose or free wires running promiscuously over aportion of the room in which the lamp is located.

A specific object of the invention is to provide an electrical terminalcarrying means which may be placed beneath a 'rug, scarf or mat forengagement with contacts in the base of a lamp and to provide properpiloting means for centering the contacts of the lamp directly over thecontacts beneath the rug, it being understood that a hole in the rug orscarf is provided for permitting a direct connection.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pilot means for thepurposes described which will not only serve as a guide for centeringthe lamp but which will require that either a. very small hole bepierced in the rug, or in some cases no hole at all.

A still further object of the invention isto provide a contacting meansbeneath the rug which will be invisible or substantially so at such timeas the lamp may not be in position thereof and to provide retractablecontacts carried by the base of the lamp which may be lowered andretracted either manually or automatically in order to make and break acircuit through the lamp when desired and in order to protect thecontacts by retraction during such times as they may not be in apropitious position for exposure.

I am aware that attempts have previously been made to provide hiddenconnections for floor lamps but the objections heretofore met withreside in the fact that there was either no proper piloting means, orelectrical contacts which were more or less pointed extended permanentlythrough the rug and thereby were subject to dam-' age due to the factthat anyone walking on the rug was liable to step on them and,therefore, bend them over. Another drawback to permanent upstandingcontacts is that they are easily shortcircuited and hence comprise aconstant fire hazard. The present invention seeks to overcome suchdifficulties by the provision of the arrangements revealed'in thedrawings and described herein, as will now be referred to in detail,with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein several embodimentsare illustrated by way of example and in which:

Figure'l represents a conventional carpet or rug having the contactcarrying plate schematically shown therebelow and the lamp schematicallyele- (Cl. l73328) vated thereabove prior to the meshing of the parts;

Figure 2 is a vertical section taken centrally of Figure 1 with theparts assembled;

Figure 3 is a detail View of a modification of a socket.

Figure 4 is a further modification of the device shown in Figure 3; I

Figure 5 is a vertical section of a modification of the invention asrevealed in Figure 2; and

Figure 6 is a vertical section of a still further modification ofFigures 2 and 5.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, numeral 1 refers to aconventional rug or carpet having a plate or pad 2 therebeneath intowhich electrical lines 3 terminate into conductor rings 4. Centrally ofthe plate or pad 2 is an upstanding post 5 pointed at its end andthreaded for a distance. The pad 2 is adapted to be placed underneath arug in such a way. that the post 5 extends 7 upwardly through a hole inthe rug for this point at the place where the lamp is desired to beused. Above the conductor rings 4 further holes do not need to beprovided, as will now be described.

6 refers to the base of a floor lamp having termi- 0 nals 7 retractablymounted therein by a simple manual leverage arrangement 8. This base maybe of wood or other insulating material, or it may be of metal, in whichcase the contacts can be insulated by any familiar means. Upondepression of the lever or pedal 8 the terminals 7 which are quite smalland preferably rounded at the ends are depressed through a carpet untilthey contact the rings 4. Since a carpet is generally more or lessloosely woven, the terminals 7 readily pass between the threads thereofand do not damage the carpet even after having pierced it many times.Centrally of the bottom of the base of the lamp is a circular opening 9adapted to receive a ball 10 which acts as a guard for the point of thepost 5 thereby centering the lamp with respect to the pad 2. The ball 10is left over the post 5 at all times regardless of whether or not thelamp may be in position. Thus if there is no lamp above the pad 2 theball 10 acts as an indicator for the location of the pad and protectsanyone walking on the carpet from injury from stepping on the post. Asuitable locking means 10' may be employed, if desired. In positioningthe lamp above the contacts, it is only necessary to see that the ball10 finds its way into the opening 9 and as soon as this shall have beenaccomplished, the contacts '7 are automatically positipped over therings 4 and the lamp may be no electrically connected to the line 3merely by depression of the pedal 8.

While these rings 4 may be fiat, it is sometimes best to provide apositive engagement such as may be had by the crimped ring 4 shown inFigure 3 or by the spring ring as shown'at Figure 4 at 4". In Figure 5the carpet is indicated at 11 and the terminal carrying plate at 12. Inthis form two retractable plugs 13 carrying terminals 14 extend throughthe base of the lamp as shown for depression through the rug 11 for thepurpose of establishing the necessary contact. The center 15 of theplate 12 is elevated for the purpose of acting as a pilot for the baseof the lamp in order to guide the terminals 14 to a position directlyover the terminals carried by the base 12 prior to depression intoelectrical engagement therewith. With piloting means such as shown bythis figure, no hole need be provided in the carpet.

In Figure 6 the same type of base plate 12' is illustrated as is shownin Figure 5. According to this form, the contacts 16 are pivotallycarried by links 17 which are in turn pivotally mounted interiorly ofthe base of the lamp and which are acted upon by springs 18 for thepurpose of maintaining the contacts 16 in a normal retracted positioninteriorly of the base of the lamp. As the central portion 15' of thebase 12 finds its Way into the center cavity 19, this high point 15' notonly acts as a pilot for centering the contacts 16 over the terminals inthe base 12, but elevates the inner ends of the links 1'7 against thesprings 18 thereby establishing electrical contact necessary to completean electric circuit through the lamp by causing the depression of theterminals 16.

It will be seen from the foregoing that numerous modifications andvarious combinations may be made without departing from the spirit .ofmy invention and I, therefore, desire to belimited in the constructionand application thereof only by the scope of the appended'claims.

What I claim is:

1. The combination of a stand lamp having electrical contacts mounted inthe base thereof and depressible and retractable relative thereto and abase plate having terminals connected to a source of electric energy,said electrical contacts in the base of the lamp being depressible forestablishing contact with saidterminals to establish a circuit throughsaid lamp.

2. The combination of a stand lamp having electrical contacts movablymounted in the base thereof, a member having a surface upon which saidlamp rests, terminals connected to a source of electric power on saidsurface, and pilot means on said member cooperating with the base of thelamp for guiding the contacts of said lamp to a position directly oversaid terminals, and means for depressing said contacts after the lamp ispositioned by the pilot means to establish electrical engagement withsaid terminals.

3. In combination, a stand lamp having a base, said base having acentral cavity therein and depressible and retractable electricalcontacts mounted on said base laterally of said cavity, a plate situatedbeneath said lamp carrying terminals connected to a source of electricenergy, upstanding means carried by said plate extending into the cavityof said base to align said contacts and said terminals, and means fordepressing said contacts relative to the base to establish an electricalengagement with said terminals.

4. In combination, a stand lamp having a base, said base having acentral cavity therein and retractable electrical contacts laterally ofsaid cavity, a plate situated beneath said lamp carrying terminalsconnected to a source of electric energy, upstanding means carried bysaid plate,' a guard for said upstanding means adapted to closely engagethe cavity in the base of said lamp and to protect said upstanding meanswhen the lamp is removed, said guard comprising a pilot for aligningsaid contacts and said terminals, preliminary to depressing saidcontacts into engagement with said terminals.

5. In combination, a stand lamp having a base, said base having acentral cavity therein and retractible electric contacts laterally ofsaid cavity, a plate situated beneath said lamp carrying ring terminalsconnected to a suitable source of electric energy, upstanding means onsaid plate centrally of said ring terminals, said means extendingupwardly into the cavity of said plate for aligning the contacts in thebase of the lamp 95 directly over some point on the ring terminals, andmeans for depressing said contacts into engagement with said rings.

6. In combination, a plate having ring terminals connected to a suitablesource of current adapted to be placed under a cover such as a rug, saidplate having an upstanding portion centrally of said rings, a lamphaving a base equipped with retractible contacts above said rug, thebase of said lamp being provided with a central cavity, the center ofsaid cavity being spaced from said contacts a distance equal to thedistance from the center of said upstanding portion of the plate to saidrings, said upstanding portion projecting into said cavity to align saidcontacts over said 11 rings, and means for depressing said contactsthrough said rug to establish an electric circuit from said terminalsthrough said lamp.

7. In combination, a plate equipped with ring terminals adapted to beplaced under a cover such 1 5 as a rug, an upstanding post on said platecentrally of said rings extending through the rug, a. guard for saidpost, a stand lamp having a base equipped with retractible electricalcontacts, the base of said lamp having a central cavity at a distancefrom said contacts equal to the distance of said post from the terminalsof said plate, the guard on said post being adapted to closely fit thecavity of said lamp to align said contacts and said ring terminals, andmeans for depressing said contacts through said rug to engage saidterminals.

8. In combination, a plate equipped with ring terminals adapted to beplaced under a cover such as a rug, an upstanding notched post on said130 plate centrally of said rings extending through said rug, a guardfor said post above said rug, means for locking said guard to thenotches on said post, a stand lamp having a base equipped withretractable electrical contacts, the base of 135 said lamp having acentral cavity at a distance from said contacts equal to the distance ofsaid post from the terminals of said plate, the guard on said post beingadapted to closely fit the cavity of said lamp to align said contactsand said ring 40 terminals, and means for depressing said contactsthrough said rug to engage said terminals;

9. In combination, 'a stand lamp having a recessed base, a memberadapted to be disposed below a cover, and having a pin projectingthrough the cover, centering means removably connected to said pin andadapted to be received into the recess in said base to center the lampstand, and contacts on said base and said memspasm? b'er adapted toengage in the center ed position of the member and the stand lamp.

10. In combination, a plate having. ring terminals adapted to beconnected to a source of power, said plate having an upstanding portioncentrally of said 'rings, a lamp having a base provided with a recessadapted to receive said upnandinz portion to center the lamp on theplate, and contacts mounted in said lamp base and depressible andretractable with respect thereto located to align with the ringterminals in the centered positions of the lamp.

11. In combination, a plate adapted to underlie a rug or the like andhaving flat electric terminals thereon and having a centralsubstantially unyielding projection thereon, a stand lamp havin: acentral recess in the under side of its base,

contact points for the lamp movably mounted in the base, and levermechanism extending into the recess in the base and connected with thecontact points whereby the contact points are forced downwardly from thebase when the stand lamp is placed with its recess over the projectionon the plate.

12. The device of claim 11 in which the terminals are rings concentricwith the projection on the plate.

HENRY H. HARRIS.

